A paedophile teacher who sexually abused a four-year-old boy walked free today because hush money demanded from him by the boyâs family was punishment enough, a judge ruled.

Gerard Raffell admitted four counts of abuse

Gerard Raffell paid the childâs parents Â£18,000 for a deposit on a new home in return for their silence, jurors were told.

The parentsâ behaviour was branded âreprehensibleâ by the judge, who then let Raffell walk free because he had, in effect, been punished.

The 42- year-old was handed a three-year treatment programme, put on the sex offender register for ten years and banned from working with children.

Raffell earlier admitted four counts of abusing the child in 2004 and 2005 â the crimes emerged last year when his victim spoke out. Raffell, from Birmingham, was told he had âbehaved disgustinglyâ by judge Ian Alexander.

You were a close friend and a school teacher but you sexually interfered with a young child,â he said.

âThis is not a usual case. You were bought off by the childâs parents, who received Â£18,000 from you in order not to go to the police,â he added.

‘That is reprehensible behaviour on their part. But you complied,â he told Northampton Crown Court.

The maths teacher then quit his job and moved house but was arrested in 2009 â and caught with 50 indecent images on his computer.

Northamptonshire County Council would not say last night whether the boy was still with his parents.

And police said they would face no charges.

It was âridiculousâ that Raffell could buy his way out, said Claude Knights of childrenâs charity Kidscape, adding: âIt is so disturbing that a family would enter into this kind of bargain, particularly as it leaves other children at risk.â